[Wild Roses] Alternate Earths
Title: unexpected connections
'Verse/characters: Alternate Earths; Yasha, Aodh
Prompt: 70B "fantasy"
Word Count: 706
Notes: Could be said to obliquely reference an introductory/cover letter so over-the-top ridiculous that it actually serves its purpose.
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He was getting better at pinpointing when--and where--Aodh popped in to his own context. When he sat up to look over the back of the couch Aodh was a good two feet away from where the calculations had put him; not perfect, yet, but closer than he'd ever been before.
"Hey," he said, and waited for Aodh to chirrup something back--he wasn't as far along on figuring out click as he was in other areas--then held up the paperback he'd been reading, so Aodh could see the cover. "Am I not the only Opener around here?"
Aodh blinked, then padded over to peer at the book.
"I checked--the world underpinnings here don't have anything like the stories in this, but three realities over they do, and it's just history. I mean, the details and all are tweaked, but--" Yasha cut himself off when Aodh started laughing, reaching over the back of the couch to snag the book.
"Opener, nah," Aodh said through the snickering, "Cousin 'th wanderin' feet, oui." Holding the book up so Yasha could see the cover, in the bright primary colours of a years-ago reprinting, he tapped the author's name. "'s one of Jared's."
Yasha turned that over in his head a couple of times, crossing his legs underneath him and feeling the cushion squish as he propped his elbows on the back of the couch. "What?" he eventually managed, because that still didn't make sense. Then he squirmed himself through a cushion's width of space and a ninety-degree rotation fast as Aodh hopped up to sit on the back of the couch, booted feet on the cushion Yasha had just had his bare ankles on.
Yasha leaned back against the arm of the couch, arms crossed over his chest. Aodh was leaning forward, his elbows propped on his thighs, flipping Yasha's paperback over and over in his hands.
"Think this'un was his fourth? Fifth, maybe," Aodh said. "Changed names or histories when he got bored--or when he started gettin' funny looks for t'length of career. Keep's got 'em all, or should, every book under every name. M'sister couldn't resist givin' 'im his own books for gifts, once she knew what he was up to."
Yasha tried a variation on Trap's 'Keep talking, so I don't feel obliged to toss you into the harbour by the sewage intakes for withholding information' expression. Aodh chuckled at him, which wasn't one of the seven standard responses, but handed the book over and slid down to mirror Yasha against the other arm of the couch.
"M'cousin Jared wrote," he said, as he started unlacing his boots, "'round everythin' else he did. Might've got the idea from his granmére, couldn't tell you certain. He was a lot older'n me."
The name finally clicked. "Jared Sabaey?"
Aodh raised an eyebrow at him, left boot half-shucked off his foot. "Oui?"
"Jared-the-First-of-the-Six Jared?" Yasha knew his voice was climbing the register but couldn't stop it.
"Oui!" Aodh agreed, cheerfully, as he tossed the boot onto the floor and started on the other one.
"He wrote fantasy novels?"
The second boot joined the first, and Aodh curled his feet comfortably under his thighs after cracking his toes. "False h'stories, fantasy, couple other kinds, tá."
"Why didn't he--"
Aodh grinned, the sharp fox grin Yasha saw in the Olfridulfr, sometimes in the city, but never when he was remembering he was a Sabaey. "'s the point of leaning on something? He was already running the Six's networks--he wrote because he loved it, not because he had a motive. 's like asking why his dad wrote music." He yawned a contemptuous fox-yawn, tongue curling, then snapped his jaw shut with an audible click.
Yasha thought about that, turning the book over a few times in his own hands. Then he remembered why he'd bought the book in the first place, and felt a very weird sense of kinship curl in his chest. "Guess I can see why he might've," he allowed, and Aodh chuckled.
"Lemme know if y'want me to go raid t'Keep for you."
"I'll try the used bookstore down on 8th first, if it's all the same to you," Yasha replied, squirming down into the couch and opening the book back up.
'Verse/characters: Alternate Earths; Yasha, Aodh
Prompt: 70B "fantasy"
Word Count: 706
Notes: Could be said to obliquely reference an introductory/cover letter so over-the-top ridiculous that it actually serves its purpose.
---------
He was getting better at pinpointing when--and where--Aodh popped in to his own context. When he sat up to look over the back of the couch Aodh was a good two feet away from where the calculations had put him; not perfect, yet, but closer than he'd ever been before.
"Hey," he said, and waited for Aodh to chirrup something back--he wasn't as far along on figuring out click as he was in other areas--then held up the paperback he'd been reading, so Aodh could see the cover. "Am I not the only Opener around here?"
Aodh blinked, then padded over to peer at the book.
"I checked--the world underpinnings here don't have anything like the stories in this, but three realities over they do, and it's just history. I mean, the details and all are tweaked, but--" Yasha cut himself off when Aodh started laughing, reaching over the back of the couch to snag the book.
"Opener, nah," Aodh said through the snickering, "Cousin 'th wanderin' feet, oui." Holding the book up so Yasha could see the cover, in the bright primary colours of a years-ago reprinting, he tapped the author's name. "'s one of Jared's."
Yasha turned that over in his head a couple of times, crossing his legs underneath him and feeling the cushion squish as he propped his elbows on the back of the couch. "What?" he eventually managed, because that still didn't make sense. Then he squirmed himself through a cushion's width of space and a ninety-degree rotation fast as Aodh hopped up to sit on the back of the couch, booted feet on the cushion Yasha had just had his bare ankles on.
Yasha leaned back against the arm of the couch, arms crossed over his chest. Aodh was leaning forward, his elbows propped on his thighs, flipping Yasha's paperback over and over in his hands.
"Think this'un was his fourth? Fifth, maybe," Aodh said. "Changed names or histories when he got bored--or when he started gettin' funny looks for t'length of career. Keep's got 'em all, or should, every book under every name. M'sister couldn't resist givin' 'im his own books for gifts, once she knew what he was up to."
Yasha tried a variation on Trap's 'Keep talking, so I don't feel obliged to toss you into the harbour by the sewage intakes for withholding information' expression. Aodh chuckled at him, which wasn't one of the seven standard responses, but handed the book over and slid down to mirror Yasha against the other arm of the couch.
"M'cousin Jared wrote," he said, as he started unlacing his boots, "'round everythin' else he did. Might've got the idea from his granmére, couldn't tell you certain. He was a lot older'n me."
The name finally clicked. "Jared Sabaey?"
Aodh raised an eyebrow at him, left boot half-shucked off his foot. "Oui?"
"Jared-the-First-of-the-Six Jared?" Yasha knew his voice was climbing the register but couldn't stop it.
"Oui!" Aodh agreed, cheerfully, as he tossed the boot onto the floor and started on the other one.
"He wrote fantasy novels?"
The second boot joined the first, and Aodh curled his feet comfortably under his thighs after cracking his toes. "False h'stories, fantasy, couple other kinds, tá."
"Why didn't he--"
Aodh grinned, the sharp fox grin Yasha saw in the Olfridulfr, sometimes in the city, but never when he was remembering he was a Sabaey. "'s the point of leaning on something? He was already running the Six's networks--he wrote because he loved it, not because he had a motive. 's like asking why his dad wrote music." He yawned a contemptuous fox-yawn, tongue curling, then snapped his jaw shut with an audible click.
Yasha thought about that, turning the book over a few times in his own hands. Then he remembered why he'd bought the book in the first place, and felt a very weird sense of kinship curl in his chest. "Guess I can see why he might've," he allowed, and Aodh chuckled.
"Lemme know if y'want me to go raid t'Keep for you."
"I'll try the used bookstore down on 8th first, if it's all the same to you," Yasha replied, squirming down into the couch and opening the book back up.